90 



REDHEAD 

 146. Marila americana. 19 in. 



Note the shape of the bill of this species, as compared 

 to that of the similarly colored Canvas-back. The male 

 Redhead has a bluish bill with a black tip, and his back 

 is much darker than that of the Canvas-back; eye yel- 

 low. The female has the throat white and the back 

 plain grayish-brown, without bars. Redheads dive and 

 swim with great agility; they feed largely upon water 

 plants and mollusks which they get from the bottom of 

 ponds, or along the seashore. They breed very abun- 

 dantly in the ploughs of the prairies in the Northwest. 



Notes. A hollow, rapid croaking. 



Nest. Of grasses, lined with feathers, in marshes. 

 Their 6 to 12 eggs are buffy white (2.40x1.70); May, 

 June. 



Range. Breeds chiefly in the interior, from Minnesota 

 and Dakota northward, and to a lesser degree north 

 from Maine. Winters in southern part of the U. S. 



